June: Budget Update

Alright, since I haven't posted them, here are the budget totals as of right now:

Health & Beauty:

Walgreens: $24.27/$80
This includes two hairdryers, some laundry soap & quite a bit of clearance school supplies. I still have $12 in RR though, so I'm doing good.

K-Mart: $1.15
I was testing to see if our Kmarts were unknowingly doubling coupons. They weren't.

Wal-Mart: $2.04
Q-tips and trial-size contact solution.

Grocery:

Alberston's: $6.75
Some bottled water I had rain checks for. This will go up tomorrow though, since there are some neat sales.

Target: $1.30 on a giftcard.
Salad dressing and mayo - should have been free or really close to free, but everything resulted in overage and so my last coupon wasn't accepted. That's okay; I'll live. This was on a giftcard, so it doesn't count towards my budget.

Save-Mart: $2.65
Some onions and chile. The rest of the produce was really bad, so we went to Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart: TBA.

I've made three trips to Wal-Mart in the past 3 days. A bit crazy, I know. We went on Saturday and it was packed, so I didn't feel like using coupons. We bought a bunch of veggies and some meat. The total was around $46, but the receipt is out in my car, so I'll update that later.

I made another trip yesterday morning to use up some of my Kraft IPs that were expiring soon - that was 8.46 for some fun stuff - graham crackers, Ritz, Wheat Thins, and then some pasta and Ramen.

The second trip was a bit more pricey - 16.46. That one included Boca Burgers, Yo-Plus Yogurt, Cheddar Cheese, Kashi bars and hamburger buns.

So that's approximately 80.32 of the monthly budget and we're only nine days in...whoops! It'll be about another twenty tomorrow, but I'm not too worried right now. We'll see how it goes.

Rant: Stupid Kmart.

So, I previously wrote that all NM stores would be participating in Kmart doubles this week. This was information I received when I wrote to Kmart last week. On Thursday, when our ad showed up, it didn't show doubles on not. However, word on the blogosphere was that all Kmarts were doubling - it just wasn't advertised.

So, I did a trial run today. I bought Huggies wipes, since they'd be free after doubles and cheap enough after coupon. Didn't work. I was so annoyed! I was completely prepared to spend quite a bit at Kmart this week; I had several scenarios to take advantage of their 'Buy More; Save More' promotion and the Axe movie ticket promotion - but no. Kmart isn't doubling coupons.

This is infuriating because we've been left out of doubles since March. I've read on several blogs that Kmart only hosts these promotions in areas where they get a lot of response - i.e. big cities were there are a lot of couponers. I think that's dumb. Sure, maybe there will be five people in my town who go in with coupons during doubles week. But that's five people who wouldn't walk in there otherwise. And face it - we all know couponers move a lot of merchandise through stores. We may be getting the item free, but the store is getting reimbursed for it {well, I guess for half of it during a doubles event}.

Ugh!

Store Blahs + Update on Budget.

Somedays I just don't want to go shopping. Today was definitely one of those days. However, today was the last day milk was $1.50, and since it's not on sale next week {nothing is on sale next week!}, I had to go to Walmart.

2 gallons 2% Milk - 3.00
2lbs. Organic Brown Rice - 2.88
Total: 5.88

44.12 left in weekly budget.

So, next week, Kmart is doubling coupons! I'm super excited because we will be included this time around. I'm anxiously awaiting the sales ad - it doesn't come out 'til Thursday. I'm hoping for some really good deals on Wheat Thins & Ritz; I really need to use up my Kraft IPs before they expire.

I think I'll be adding $50 to my budget - for anything non-food bought at anywhere that isn't Walgreens {I have my eyes on some clearanced Ziploc Baggies at Target - just need them to go down a bit more}. This might change a bit depending on the sales at Kmart next week. We'll see how it goes.

June Goals

I feel it's important to have goals. Without goals, you can never reach your ultimate potential and you can never really figure out where you're falling short. You also never realize what you're spending if you don't track it, and I haven't been tracking. That being said, these are my goals for June:

1) Stick to a Walgreens budget of $80/month or $20/week.
I have been spending way too much at Walgreens. Yes, I have been saving a lot, but I've also spent way too much. It's time to stop that.

2) Stick to a grocery budget of $200/month or $50/week.
We've been spending around $60/week, so this shouldn't be too much of a stretch for us. However, it will require me to track my purchases, which is something I haven't been doing.

3) Stick to a gas budget of $40/month.
I'm lucky enough to have a gas that get good mileage {about 30 miles/gal}, but gas prices are increasing by the day. I suspect I'll go over this goal, but we'll see when we get there.

That's it. Three -hopefully- simple goals. Let's hope I can manage it!